


[S] Go completely off the deep end.

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Game Over Timeline, Grimdark Dave Strider, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-08-11
Packaged: 2019-06-25 21:33:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15649338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Your name is DAVE STRIDER and the NOBLE CIRCLE OF HORRORTERRORS does not want you to use your time powers.





	[S] Go completely off the deep end.

**Author's Note:**

> Written based on Twitter prompts.

You’ve had a lot of time to think about your brother. There’s lingering resentment where your admiration used to lie, embedded deep in your chest like a compass telling you what to become when you grew up.

One thing you are thankful for, though, is the strife ability he passed on to you, however convoluted his methods were. Jade’s evil dog friends are hella fucking fast, a lot more than you anticipated, but you can parry their aggressive swings anyway. You flashstep in front of Jade’s quest bed whenever either of them makes a break for it, bring the Caledfwlch down on their paws in a pitiful attempt to just make them give up already.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see the creepy juggalo holding Terezi hostage. Kanaya dashes towards him, chainsaw unsheathed and roaring loud over the sounds of everyone else’s strifes.

i think im giving it up for good actually, you’d told bad dog Jade before she blamed you for Davesprite’s romance issues and kicked the Mayor into a pit of lava. And, really, you were going to. Dead Daves are the enemy, and there’s no surer way to spawn a bunch of dead Daves than time travel.

But when you see Karkat’s mad sprint right into an even madder fucking clown, you lift your hand and tell yourself this is going to be the last time. You’re going to freeze everything for a while, gently drag Karkat away to a safe spot, and fly back to protect Jade’s corpse from getting torn in half by a couple of rabid dogs. Foolproof plan, the kind only a Strider could devise and execute with utmost mastery.

And then you black out.

* * *

what the fucks going on, you say.

The creepy juggalo and your weird artificially blind ex-girlfriend are gone. The shitty volcanoes and lava pools aren’t here, either. No girl-stealing canines in sight. In fact, there’s fucking nothing in sight, because everything looks and feels black, somehow, your voice dripping out of your mouth like thick slug forcing its way up your throat. You can’t actually hear yourself, though you know you’re talking. You just haven’t any idea of how.

Do not interfere with the timeline.

what, you say, because you have no fucking idea where that came from. The words sneak into your brain out of nowhere, so overwhelming they almost block out your actual thoughts completely.

You are not meant to do this job. Do not do it. We are only reaching out to you because doing otherwise would result in our demise.

who the hell are you anyway, you ask. You’re feeling rather disadvantaged in this situation.

We have convened with you before.

You remember a glimpse of something else, an eldritch godly presence Rose had droned on about while you ignored her, their calls to you when you woke up in Derse. why are you stopping me now that it actually fuckin matters for once, you scream, but it comes out as nothing and you choke on your own fake chutzpah like molasses.

The Heir has the power to change your outcome. Provided you do not interfere.

John? You’d frown in confusion if you actually had any proprioception in this blank slate of a place. You’re always so out of the loop when it comes to your best bro. just let me do this, you plead, bargaining with gods like Rose told you never to do. youd rather swallow a handful of glass than having this reality be destroyed right.

If those terms make it easier for a human to comprehend, yes.

listen i dont want him to be gone either. You wish you could cry, stop bottling up your goddamn Strider manpain for once. It hurts to say this to some abominations looming in the outskirts of your universe while you can’t bear to actually tell him. just like you dont want to be shattered and lose all this shit i cant bear to lose him.

so i guess unless you keep me hostage forever or something which i think you cant do because this is some weird reality bending shit im probably gonna rewind anyway, you dare to say, and you immediately regret it.

Very well.

Silence. You try to spill out more words but they invade your mind before you do.

The Noble Circle shall cloak you in its woeful deathmantle, break you to the basest of throes and rebuild you, set free from the chains of light binding you.

You disappear.

* * *

People say—or used to, when Earth was still an existent planet with a living population—dogs are able to see things humans can’t perceive. You learn firsthand, sat in the finest fucking VIP box Sburb can offer, it’s true.

You snap back to reality in the same position you were in when the outer gods dragged you out: hand raised, sword still cautiously pointed at a pair of very murderous canines. All of a sudden, however, they snarl and cower in inexplicable fear, Jade’s body forgotten as they bark louder and louder while stepping backwards, away from you.

Then you fall to your knees and inky appendages materialise around your body, cold and thick and just like the non-reality you were transported to. They coil around themselves like snakes, jet-black and seeking the fleeing pair of dogs.

You don’t understand the void in your head. You think nothing except for one recurring thought, on repeat and blocking out the tiny rational part of your brain: gut the fucking murderclown.

You fly at him faster than you’ve ever managed to after your god tier ascension, the tentacles on your back stretching seamlessly to follow you. Before you can land on one of the lava-surrounded platforms everyone’s standing on, an impossibly long tentacle snaps at Gamzee, wraps itself around his right foot. It tosses him to the ground with a loud bang. You land and stand right over him, sword aiming straight for his… troll jugular?

You dig the sharp tip of the Caledfwlch into his skin. A droplet of dark purple blood oozes out.

A well-versed master of the ninja arts ain’t afraid of chopping all them fuckin’ heads off if he needs to, kiddo, echoes in the grime-caked hallways of your shattered mind.

He’d cornered you with a weapon firm against your jugular, the scorching Texas sun-heated asphalt flaying the skin of your back through the thin fabric of your baseball shirt. A wave of long overdue anguish crawls up your chest. Why did he try to shape you into this faux-machine?

Your anger is too much to bottle up. Even if this isn’t him, if he’s long gone and buried with a shitty, unbreakable katana through his stomach, you’re still really fucking pissed. There’s nothing of your Bro in Gamzee, and regardless of that, you lift your blade into the air and swing down, a quick, effective motion.

The sword hits something with a loud clang. When you look down, Terezi’s cane is firmly blocking your attack, a perfect parry. Her riposte is precise even behind the ridiculous red blindfold. Your breath hitches, not wanting to fight Terezi—she’s still your friend, still someone you really liked for a good while, still—

From the platform across the lava pool, Karkat looks at you. He looks positively terrified.

karkat, you scream, but instead of sound your mouth spits out sticky black goo that gets all over your knightly robes.

ST4Y B4CK COOLK1D, Terezi says, and you realised how much you’ve missed her. In your very core, whatever’s left post-evil brainwashing, you don’t want to do this. Hell, you weren’t even sure you wanted _Kanaya,_ murderess extraordinaire, to do it. And yet the Old Ones’ call takes you hostage and makes you flashstep behind her and knock her aside. Her cane falls to the ground and the dragon ornament shatters. You’d loathe yourself if you had the space in your brain to allocate to that particular activity.

Once she’s out of the way, you tear Gamzee’s _everything_ in half with a swift chop. The disgusting mess of purple guts it produces makes bile rise in your throat, but instead of retching, you just spit more tasteless murk. You hear Karkat and Terezi’s screams. When you turn to look at her, Kanaya’s startled out of her mind, and you really didn’t expect to see her so out of her element anytime in your life.

Your posture’s all fucked and you’re hunching under the strange weight of the appendages curling on your back. They wrap around Terezi, but instead of hurting her, they just lift her up and place her further away from the platform border, so she can’t get easily pushed into lava. At least these things have a sense of caring for people you love.

Next, the tentacles take Karkat, bring him closer to you even though he’s clearly struggling and unsure of how safe it is to approach this blurry, burning dark, version of you. You fall to your knees when you see red tears streaming down his face.

WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS.

You want to say i dont know but nothing coherent comes out, like someone took a torch to your cerebral cortex and lit everything on fire, taking away even the basest speech capability you were already quite deficient with. Even if you _were_ able to say you don’t know, it’d be a pointed lie, and you’re fully aware of it.

i did it because i saw you run into your fucking death and i wanted to protect you, you cry. because i dont know what id fucking do if you died to your psycho clown monorail because even if we fight over the dumbest shit i care about you and im pretty sure i know why id do this for you but not for anyone else. And horribly fucking unlucky as you are, words come back to you, make more sense as you ramble on and on, and Karkat knows, now. He knows.

Karkat embraces you with shaky arms. PLEASE, DAVE.

The inky black stream on your back subsides. The tentacles pipe down, fall to the ground limp and without a sound. Things make a little bit more sense, everything’s slightly clearer, though the sight of purple coating the blade of your sword makes your stomach turn and this time you actually vomit. Nothing comes out, just water and remains of the black goop, and your throat aches.

im sorry.

For the third time in what feels like the longest half hour of your fucking life, you pass out.

* * *

Everyone’s in a circle around you when you come to your senses. Not _literally_ everyone you know is supposed to be around, but you’re not a fucking idiot. You know that, if someone’s not in sight after the ridiculous carnage that unfolded, they’re probably... It hurts you to think about it, so you don’t.

Terezi’s clutching your hand like a lifeline. You squeeze back. Her smile is so bright you know she’s grinning, even though you’re keeping your eyes half-lidded until the light stops being too much.

To your left, Karkat’s tear-stained face frowns at you. Your memories of whatever went on while you went apeshit aren’t the clearest, but you know you’ve hurt him big fucking time, and you can’t even find the words to apologise like he deserves. God, you keep putting him through so much shit.

Eloquent as always, Kanaya’s the first one to break the silence. I Reckon This Is A Doomed Timeline, she says, solemn. I Would Like To Believe Otherwise However Any Universe Where Rose Does Not Survive And I Am Left To Pick Up The Pieces Is Unfathomable As A Win To Me. 

Moisture gathers around your eyes. You fucked it all up. As a Knight of Time, you were supposed to coordinate everything, to keep the timelines in check and make stable time loops, never let anything spill into other universes, contain every single mistake. And in your recklessness, too blinded by Karkat being in danger, you took away Kanaya’s everything.

it wasnt meant to be, you say, voice cracking. im so fucking sorry this is my fault im sorry. 

D4V3 D1D TH4T W31RD D4RK M4G1C BURN YOUR TH1NKP4N OUT. She keeps that fierce grin even when you know she’s not as stable as she pretends to be. You love her so much, too. You wish you hadn’t actually hurt her for the sake of your own selfish desires. 3V3N 1F TH1S W4S YOUR F4ULT DO YOU R34LLY TH1NK W3D 3V3R B3 M4D 4T YOU.

You’re too tired to argue with her, so you let your head fall onto Terezi’s lap while Karkat takes your hand in his and tries to smile. Keyword being tries. You smile back at him anyway, the soothing warmth of his hand doing wonders to slow your racing heartbeat.

The Old Ones’ words echo in your head. The Heir has the power to change your outcome. And as acquainted as you are with the concept of doomed timelines, games you simply can’t win, copies of yourself who won’t ever get to rebuild their home—you never thought you could be one of them. You don’t want to be. Deep down, you still don’t believe it, pointless hope swelling in your chest.

You close your eyes and pray John can do anything about this.


End file.
